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Ferguson wants demolition hit list of London skyscrapers

17 April, 2003

RIBA president-elect George Ferguson has called for a demolition 'hit list' of tall buildings in London. Ferguson, who proposed the idea at an ICOMOS conference into the future of the capital's skyline last week, placed the Euston Tower first in line to be knocked down.

He said he particularly objected to the 'squarish slabby' Euston Tower because of its impact on Regent's Park, would happily lose Ronald Ward and Partners' Millbank Tower, and had been pleased to see the back of Eric Bedford's Marsham Street towers. 'I've always thought that equal importance should be given to the removal of buildings that scar towns and cities as repairing the ones that enhance them, ' Ferguson told the AJ. 'This particularly applies to the skyline.'

Ferguson said the success of Foster and Partners' Swiss Re emphasised the 'banal nature' of other tall buildings in the City, particularly the 'blocky, mid-range '60s ones'. He suggested that with the addition of each new tall building, one of the eyesores should be removed.

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The Architects' Journal is the voice of architecture in Britain. We sit at the heart of the debate about British architecture and British cities, and form opinions across the whole construction industry on design-related matters